Operating mechanism for washing-machines.



G. N. MEVES. OPERATING MEGHANISM FOE WASHING MACHINES.

APPLICATION FILED NOV. 4, 1909.

Patented June 21, 1910.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

G. N. MEVES. OPERATING MEGHANISM FOR WASHING MACHINES.

APPLICATION FILED NOV. 4, 1909. 961,8?9. Patented June 21,1910. 2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

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.in this type of machine.

GUSTAV N. MEVES, OF DAVENPQRT, IOWA.

OPERATING MECHANISM FOR WASHING-MACHINES.

no i ,aro.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented June 2 Application filed November 4. 1909. Serial No. 526,212.

To all. whom it may concern:

lle it known that l. (li s'rav X. Micvics, a itizen of the tlnited States. and a resident f Davenport, in the county of Scott and State of Iowa. have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Operating Mechanism for \Vashing-Maohines; and 1 do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, reference being bad to the aceompanving drawings, and to the. characters of reference lnarked thereon, which 'l'orm a part of this Specification.

This invention relates to improvements in operating mechanisms for washing and like machines of that class having a stirrer head shaft which is given a rotary reeiproeatorv motion, and the invention consists in the matters hereinal'ter set. 'lorth and more particularly pointed out in the appended claims.

The invention relates more specilieallv to that. class of such machines wherein a balance wheel or other power storing deviee is connected to the actuating means tor the stirrer or dasher shaft in such a 'a v as to substantially reduce the power required to operate the machine after the mechanism is set in motion, and to relieve the reversible parts from shot-ks and jars at their points of reversal.

My improved operating mechanism herein shown embodies a haml'aetuated rot-king element for giving motion to the rotary reciprooatory shal't, butit will be understood that other forms of actuating elements may be employed. and also that the mechanism, as a. whole. maybe used in other machines than \i-ashing machines.

in the drawings, igure I is a vertical sectional view of a washing machine. equipped with an operating device embottving H1)" invention. Fig 2 is a side elevation of the actuating means for the dasher shaft. Fig. i3 is a top plan view ol the machine. Fifi. 4

is a horizontal sectional view on the line t--l of Fig. l. Fig. 5 is a detail rear elevation of the tail piece of the lid and the gearing supported t-herebv.

The tub It), the stirrer headll and stirrer head shaft. 12 are of the usual construction Said shaft has bearing in a. sleeve l3 located in a central opening in the swinging portion let oi' the lid or cover. and is made inte ral with a v I n o plate I. that: IS fixed on the upper side of :i are. I

the said swinging portion of the lid or seven,

The staid swinging portion of the lid or cover is hinged at It; to a metal tail piece, or the non-rising portion 17 of the top wall of the tub. A beveled pinion 18 at the upper end of the stirrer head shaft meshes with the gear sector of a rocking member 20, which latter is pivoted to an upright standard or bracket '21 that. rises from or is made integral with the frame plate said standard being provided with a horizontal pivot pin or stud 22 which engages a bearing aperture in the rorking member. The rot-king member has a socket piece 23 in which tits the lower end of an operating handle 2-1: by which the rocking member is swung on its axis to impart rotary reciproeatouv motion to the stirrer head shaft.

Located beneath the bottom 250E the tub is a balance wheel Qt) arranged to rotate in a vertical plane. Said balance wheel is shown as tixed to a horizontal. rotative shaft 27 that is rot'ativel v mounted in the parallel members 28. 28 of an underil'rame arranged beneath the tub bottom. Said under-frame. consists. as herein shown. in addition to the parallel members 2b. of other members the tour frame members being arranged in the form of an open rectangle and attached togetherat their ends and to the legs 310 of the tub by means of angle pieces 31. 31 and bolts 32. 32, as shown in .l ig. l. The shaft 2? is mounted in brackets 34, st carried by the undenframe members 28. said brackets preferably embodying anti-l'rietion media to reduee the friction at these points.

The balance wheel shaft is provided at one end. outside of its adjacent; bearing bracket- 34, with a bcreledypinitm 36 that is fixed non-rotatively to the shaft. The said beveled pinion meshes with a horizontally arranged gear wheel 2-3? that is fixed to the lower end of a vertical. rotative shaft 38 arranged at: the side of the tub and extending at its upper end to the top of the tub. The lower end of .said shaft. has bei'iring in a bracket arm 39. herein shown as formed an integral part of the adjacent; bracket 34 of the balance wheel shaft. The upper end of said shaft: 38 is rotatively n'iounted in a suitable bearing bracket 41, shown as made integral with the tail piece 17 of the lid, as will hereltlt) inafter more fully appear. The shaft 38 rearries at its upper end above the bearing bracket 41, a beveled pinion 42 that is nonrotatively fiX'ed thereto. Between the lower end of the hub of the beveled pinion 42 and the bearing bracket 41 are interposed antifriction balls 43 which serve to carry the weight of the shaft and parts supported thereby, and to reduce the friction between the shaft and its bearing support. The said beveled pinion 42 meshes with a gear wheel 45 that is arranged in a vertical plane, and is mounted on a pin or stud 46 carried by a lug .47 which, as herein shown, is made integral with the tail piece 17 The said tail piece is formedwith a curved notch or recess 48 that opens on the top and rear side of the tail piece to receive a portion of the ear wheel 45, the bottom of said recess being curved to correspond with the circumference of the gear wheel 45. 'The bearing bracket 41 for the shaft 38 extends rearwardly and laterally from the rear end of the curved bottom of said recess 48 of the tail piece and, desirably a housing 51, made integral with said bracket, is arranged to inclose the beveled pinion. Furthermore a casing or housing 52 may be arranged to partially inclose the large gear wheel 45 and may be made integral with the castanetal tail piece. The pinion housing is made of such dimensions as to permit the pinion to be inserted to place in the integral housing. The said gear Wheel 45 is connected with the rocking actuating devicevfor the stirrer shaft by means imparting thereto and to the shaft 38 continuons rotary motion in one direction and such unidirectional motion is transmitted to the balance wheel to rotate the latter at high speed. The connections between said gear wheel 45 and the rocking actuating device 20, asherein shown, is made as follows:

designates a pitman that is pivotally connected at its outer end with a stud or pin 56 fixed to and disposed eccentric-ally on the gear wheel 45. The inner end of said link is pivotally connected, as by means of thepin 57, with the lower arm 58 of a yertically swinging lever 59, said arm 58 being laterally directed, as shown at 59", for connectinu with the inner end of the pitman. The Sill-{l lever 59 is pivoted near its upper end on a horizontal pivot pin or stud 60 that extends inwardly from the upper end of a standard sector 20.

61 which rises from the frame plate 15 and is located laterally at one side of the rocking actuating member 20. The upper, shorter arm (32 of said lever is loosely or pivotally-connected to apivot pin or stud ()3 that extends laterallyfrom the rocking gear As herein shown the shorter arm tiwof 'said-lever is formed with an upwardly opening notch (34 which is arranged to fit 'over' a bearing roller (35 that is mounted on said-pin orIstud'fJQ. The said pitman is curved upwardly just inside of its outer end, as shown in Fig. 1, so as to clear the inner notched side of the tail piece, and said notch is made wide enough to receive the pitman and the stud 56. \p

in order that the swinging portion of the top wall or lid may be swung backwardly to open the tub, the link is detachably and plvotally connected with the lower end of the lever. To this end the inner end of: the pitman is provided with a downwardly opening hook portion 67 which engages over said pivotestud Any suitable locking device may be employed to lock the pitman detachably to, said pin or stud.

In the operation of the mechanism described the hapd lever is grasped by the operator and swung from side to side and operates, thronglr the rocking gear sector mem her and the meshing pinion, to impart rotary reciprocatory motion to the dasher shaft. The rocking motion of said actuatmember is transmitted through the vertically swinging lever 59 and pitman 55 to the-gear wheel 45, at which point the H10- tion is translated into a continuous rotation of said gear wheel and of the vertical. shaft connected therewith and thence to the balance Wheel below the tub. The ratios of the gear wheel and pinion atthe upper end of the shaft and the gear wheel and pinion at the lower end of the shaft are such as to increase the speed of the balance wheel to a smibed and also to relieve the reversible pa ts of shocks and jars at their points of reversal. I

The arrangement of the tail piece provided with the recess to receive a portion of the gear wheel at the upper end of the rotative, vertical shaft, enables the center of said wheel and the shaft to be placed at a minimum distance from the tub and contributes lo the compactness of the machine.

Moreover the tail piece, constituting part of the top wall of the tub, as it does, and formed to provide the fixed bearings for the gears at the upper end of the vertical, rotative shaft, serves to simplify and strengthen the construction.

The arrangement of the lever 59 between the rocking gear sector and the pitman 55 constitutes a compound system of levers which serves to increase. the driving cilicicncy of the power stored in the balance wheel and thereby decrease the manual power required to operatethe mechanism after it is started, in operation.

a While I have described the illustrated emhodimontoi my invention with considerable.

]mrticularit v, it will be understood that the structural details thereof may be varied within the spirit and scope of the invention, and'I do not Wish to limit the invention to such details except as hereinafter made the subject of specific claims! I claim as my invention:

1. Operating mechanism for washing'and like machines comprising, in combination, a vertical shaft capable af rotary reciprocatory motion, actuating means for imparting rotary reciprocatory motion to said shaft, a balance wheel arranged below said shaft to rotate in a vertical plane, and speed increasing gear mechanism opcratively connecting said actuating means and balance wheel, embracing a vertical shaft which is rotated continuously in one, direction by said actuating means and arranged to impart a continuous high speed rotation to the balance wheel.

2. Operating mechanism for washing and like machines comprising, in combination, a vertical shaft capable of rotary reciproca' tory motion, actuating means for imparting rotary reciprocatory motion to said shaft, a vertically arranged balance wheel below said shaft, a horizontal rotative shaft to which said balance wheel is fixed and speed increasing gear mechanism operatively conmeeting said actuating means and said balance wheel shaft, embracing a vertical rotative shaft operatively connected at its up er end with said actuating means, a beve ed gear wheel on the lower end of the shaft and a beveled pinionon the balance wheel shaft meshing with said gear wheel.

3. Operating mechanism for washing machines comprising, in combination, a vertical shaft capable of rotary reciprocatory motion, actuating means for imparting rotary reciprocatory motion to said shaft, a vertically disposed balance wheel belowthe shaft, a horizontal, rotative shaft to which said balance wheel is fixed, a vertical, rot-ative shaft, a gear wheel on the lower end of said latter shaft, a pinion on the balance wheel shaft meshing with said gear wheel, a pinion on the upper end of said vertical, rotative shaft, a gear wheel meshing with said latter pinion and a )itman connected with said latter gear wheel and operatively connected with said actuating means.

4. Mechanism for operating washing ma-' chines comprising, in combination, a shaft capable of rotary reciprocatory motion, actuating means for imparting rotary reciprocatory motion to said shaft, a balance wheel and speed increasing gear mechanism connecting said balance wheel and actuating means embracing a rotative shaft operatively connected at one end with the balance wheel and a lever arranged between and connected to the other end of said rotative shaft'and said actuating means.

Operating mechanism for washing machines comprising, in combination, a, vertical shaft capable of rotary reciprocatory motion, rocking actuating means for imparting rotary rcriprocatory motion to said shaft. a balance wheel arranged below said shaft, a, vertical, rotativc shaft opcraiivcly connected at its lower end with the balance wheel and operative connections between the upper end of said shaft and said operating means embracing a pitman operatively connected at one end with said upper end of 'at one' end to said balance wheel, a pinion fixed to the other end of said rotative shaft, a gear wheel meshing with said pinion and provided with an eccentrically arranged stud, a pitman connected at one end to the said stud, and a swinging lever connected to said rocking gear sector and to said itman. 7. Operating mechanism for washlng and like machines comprising, in combination, a shaft capable of rotary reciprocatory m0- tion, a pinion fixed to said shaft, a rocking gear sector meshing with the pinion, a balance wheel arranged below said shaft, a horizontal, rotative shaft to which said balance wheel is fixed, a pinion on the latter we shaft, :1 vertical, rotative shaft, a gear wheel fixed to the lower end of said vertical shaft and meshing with said latter pinion, a pinion on the upper end of said vertical shaft,

a gear wheel meshing with said latter pinion, a pitman connected with the last mentioned gear wheel and a swinging lever which is connected to the rocking sector and to the said itman.

8. Operating mechanism for washing and like machines comprising, in combination, a vertical shaft capable of rotary reciprocatory motion, actuating means for imparting rotary reciprocatory motion to said shaft,a balance wheel arranged below said shaft to rotate in a vertical plane and an upright shaft operatively connected at its upper and lower ends to said balance wheel and actuating device, respectively, and arranged to transmit a unidirectional high speed rotation to the balance wheel.

9. Operating mechanism for washing and like machines comprising, in combination, a vertical shaft capable of rotary r ciprocatory motion, actuating means for imparting rotary reciprocatory motion to said shaft, a balance wheel arranged below said shaft to rotate in a vertical plane, a horizontal rotative shaft on which said balance wheel is mounted and speed increasing gear mechanism for the balance wheel operatively connectin said actuating means and said horizontal s aft and arranged to impart a unidirectional highspeed rotation to the balance Wheel.

10. Operating mechanism for washing machines and the like comprising in combination with a body, an operating shaft capable of rotary reciprocatory motion, a reversing gear mechanism for imparting rot-ary reciprocatory motion to said shaft, a

horizontal, rotary shaft below said body,

' a balance wheel mounted on said shaft and an upright, rotative shaft operatively connected at its upper end with said reversing gear mechanism and operatively connected at its lower end with said balance wheel shaft.

In testimony, that I claim the foregoing as my invention I aiiix my signature in the presence of two witnesses, this 23rd day of October A. D. 1909.

GUSTAV N. MEVES.

Witnesses:

A. Conn BLANTON, J. D. WALL. 

